00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Tuesday, February 13th.
00:05 Today on Forbes, how Las Vegas became Sports Town, USA.
00:11 Two decades ago, Las Vegas tried to buy a commercial slot during the 2003 Super Bowl
00:17 to promote tourism in the city.
00:19 But the NFL stepped in, citing a contract that allowed it to reject any ad related to
00:24 sports betting, even though the spot didn't include any overt references to gambling.
00:29 How times have changed.
00:31 Sunday's Super Bowl 58 broadcast featured three commercials promoting sportsbooks, and
00:36 the game was played at Allegiant Stadium, walking distance from the casinos on the Las
00:41 Vegas Strip.
00:42 It's just the latest victory in the city's unlikely rise from sports betting capital
00:47 to sports capital, period.
00:49 Over the last six and a half years, Las Vegas has built on its long association with pro
00:54 boxing, it bills itself as the fight capital of the world, and as the home to UFC, by adding
00:59 the NHL's Golden Knights, the NFL's Raiders, and the WNBA's Aces, plus a Formula One race,
01:06 the 2022 NFL Draft, and the 2022 and 2023 Pro Bowls.
01:12 Meanwhile, Major League Baseball's A's are slated to make the move from Oakland, and
01:17 the NBA, which held its 2007 All-Star Game and 2023 In-Season Tournament Final in Sin
01:23 City and has played Summer League games there since 2004, has also touted Las Vegas as a
01:29 potential expansion team market.
01:32 Despite the historical concerns about bringing professional sports teams to a town famous
01:36 for its casinos, Las Vegas has natural advantages as a Super Bowl host city, and as a sports
01:42 city in general.
01:44 These natural advantages have been honed over decades as the home to major industry conventions,
01:49 countless corporate events, and elaborate trade shows like the tech-focused CES, which
01:53 drew more than 130,000 attendees last month.
01:57 More than 150,000 hotel rooms and a slew of marquee properties in close proximity to one
02:02 another ease logistical concerns and give marketers plenty of venues to work with.
02:08 That setup helped feed the appetite of sports owners like Al Davis, who ran the NFL's Raiders
02:13 from 1972 until his death in 2011 and dreamed of moving his outlaw football franchise to
02:19 Sin City.
02:20 One NBA team tried but failed to relocate there around 2000 without the public's knowledge,
02:26 as an industry professional who was involved in the negotiations.
02:30 Other pushes in basketball, baseball, and major league soccer fizzled out as well.
02:35 Mark Gannis, president of consulting firm SportsCorp, says, "The gambling stigma was
02:41 a significant issue, but it was only one of a number of significant issues."
02:46 For one thing, while Las Vegas is larger than, say, New Orleans or Green Bay, it is 40th
02:53 in Nielsen's ranking of U.S. media markets, with a metro area population of 2.3 million.
02:59 That curbs a team's potential ticket sales and, in baseball and hockey at least, its
03:03 local media revenue.
03:05 Sponsorship was another concern in a state that Golden Knights president Kerry Bobulls
03:10 notes is home to only nine Fortune 1000 companies, quote, "and five of them are gaming companies."
03:17 The gaming industry was a particularly tricky fit because, given that pro sports could theoretically
03:23 pull fans away from slot machines and table games, there were no guarantees that the casinos
03:27 would support a new team, politically or with their pocketbooks.
03:31 However, it turned out that, in fact, the casinos embraced the incoming teams.
03:37 MGM Resorts International is a co-owner of the Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena and sponsors
03:42 the Knights, the Raiders, and Formula One's Las Vegas Grand Prix.
03:47 Lance Evans, senior vice president for global sports corporate partnerships and sponsorships
03:51 at MGM Resorts International, says, quote, "it's just giving people another reason to
03:56 come to Las Vegas."
03:59 Sportsbooks and casinos across Nevada are handling more bets than ever, with revenue
04:03 reaching a record $15.5 billion in 2023.
04:08 The stigma around gambling began to ease after the Supreme Court in 2018 struck down the
04:13 law known as PASPA, which had effectively banned sports betting in most of the country.
04:18 Wagering on sports is now legal in 38 states, and leagues like the NFL that once opposed
04:23 gambling have had to quickly adjust to the new reality.
04:28 For full coverage, check out Brett Knight's piece on Forbes.com.
04:33 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:35 Thanks for tuning in.
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